>> hello from brussels and a very warm welcome to "european journal." welcome to half an hour of exciting stories from all over europe. let's take a look at what is coming up in today's show. russia -- why the sky is the limit for young adventurers. romania -- why it is just not the same. and iceland -- why dead fish are troubling an entire nation. genius and madness go hand in hand, as they say, and some would say the same goes for courage and carelessness. just look at people who do extreme sports.

opinions about them could not differ more. to some, they deserve recognition, and to others, they are irresponsible frauds. a group of young russians have found their own cosmic challenge. let me say one thing -- the pictures you are about to see are not for the faint hearted. >> they are disguised as ordinary, inconspicuous construction workers. it takes them half a day moving in utmost secrecy to reach their destination. the top of moscow's highest construction site. to the very tip of the highest crane 370 meters above ground level. they are called rooftops, and they do not use safety gear -- that would not be cool. -- they are called rooftoppers. vitali is a star among rooftoppers.

he posts his videos on the internet with commentary. >> you cannot get up there legally. access is guarded by cameras, motion detectors, watchman. they are everywhere. if they catch you, they will let you have it right off. >> the higher and riskier, the better. they are always looking for new challenges, and moscow's new skyscrapers are among the tallest in europe. this orthodox church is dwarfed by giants all around. the new mercury tower overtook london's sharp as europe's tallest skyscraper late last year. the lower floors of to be occupied by businesses, the upper floors by luxury flats. the rooftoppers have already been to the tip of the crane atop the tower.

surprisingly, the building's owner was thrilled because of the risk, he says. >> i am just like they are. i love all kinds of extreme sports -- everything that has to do with adrenaline. as dangerous as it is, if you overcome your weaknesses and take risks, and you deserve respect. >> he is said to have made more than 1.5 billion euros from tobacco, arms manufacture, supermarkets, and connections to high places. he wanted his tower to be the tallest. >> i drove around the wall street district. i also looked at all these distinctive structures in manhattan -- the chrysler building, the trump tower -- you know what i'm talking about. one day, i knew that i would build something like that. i had to do it.

>> he will not hold the european record for long. another skyscraper nearby will soon be leaving the mercury tower far below what it planned height of some 500 meters, including a viewing needle. moscow is now the fastest- growing city in europe, building on the ruins of past ambitions. in the 1950's, the soviet union hoped to outdo manhattan island, starting with the seven sisters, the tallest of which is the moscow state university building at 240 meters, the tip of the giant soviet star. to the rooftoppers, they are challenges. rooftoppers have invaded many of the world's cities, but nowhere else are they as daring as they are in moscow.

here the star is the sum at -- summit. this video has counted more than 1 million hits. they risk their lives for a few seconds of internet fame. the star is just 19. normally, he and his friend work in pr for a company that builds skyscrapers in the moscow city business district. the two have already scaled them all. >> we have been in all the buildings and outsmart it all the guards. they even already knew us. at some point, we give the head of one of the construction firms of one of the -- a photo of

this. he recognized as an hired as write off. the guards were pretty surprised. >> now, they are blogging for their employers, organizing voter shoots at the construction sites. after hours, they go climbing -- illegally, of course. >> i'm not afraid now. i was a little at first, but not now. here, you can hold onto all kinds of things. this is moscow. nothing breaks off. >> their lives depend on it. as an ideal, communism star proved unreachable, but not as a summit for the rooftoppers.

the police have not caught them yet, and the police do not know. they say the only reason they would quit is if a girl friend objected to it or if one of them falls. >> freedom of travel is an integral part of the european dream. within what is known as the shannon's own, 400 million europeans can travel across 26 countries without having to show passports at the orders, but in richer countries, there's growing concern that this freedom could be abused by people from more impoverished european countries. macedonia is not a new member, but citizens have been allowed to enter for years. many have seized the opportunity to apply for assignment in the west. richer countries complained last

year, and the eu urge to macedonia to act, or else a visa requirements would be reintroduced, and that, macedonia did. returning rover were stripped of their passports, leaving many with even fewer prospects than before. >> last summer, she was in germany. but then, she was before it. she had to surrender her passport to the police. now she is confined to her own country, where she says she is treated like a criminal. >> i felt so terrible. even my job was so -- i do not know how to explain it. it was so tight. i do not know why they took our passport. >> macedonia is under pressure. the eu has demanded that they stop abusing the asylum system.

so the government has made asylum of use a punishable crime -- asylum abuse. 80% of those affected are roma. these drastic measures are to ensure other citizens can travel freely. the eu has threatened to suspend the said-free travel. these are hard times for the roma. elvira is 34 and has three children. she married her husband when she was 14. she lived in germany before as a child until she was 7. now the family of five lives in two rooms with her in-laws -- 12 square meters to eat, sleep, and do homework. the entryway serves as a kitchen. >> they would love to have another room so each would have their own bed, but that is impossible. >> they could use the suspended 50 euros a month welfare benefit. neither elvira nor her husband

has worked. occasional day jobs earn them up 15 euros. fights are common at school. >> two or three times a week, not just fistfights, but with knives, brass knuckles, even guns. >> they venture out, but they are cautious. with more than 20,000 roma, it is the biggest community of its kind in europe. unemployment is an estimated 90%. it is fertile ground for violence, drugs, and crime, but also for prejudice, but is there discrimination against the roma? >> on the level of education, we can say that they are discriminating, but on a different feel from the family

discrimination. it is much better to go there and to sacrifice some years or so months. >> many have lived in germany several times before and brought back euros from germany or from sweden. poverty drives them to germany, but they do not receive aid unless they apply for political asylum. >> that is what everybody does. it is a different life there. my kids, my husband, me -- everybody got used to it. i was there for three months. everybody said good morning, good afternoon, good evening, oodbye.ternoon, good evening, every two weeks, we got 560 euros. everything is different in germany.

>> so her dream is destroyed because of the eu's pressure on macedonia. >> yes, it makes me sad. >> because of your family? >> because of my family. because of my children. because my children are my life. >> fear has been growing since they were interrogated by macedonian police. >> they threatened to beat me if i lied to them. >> i was scared because i heard the policeman threatened to beat my father. >> that was the worst thing in my life because i could not believe that something like that was possible in macedonia. >> does she want to leave again? >> yes. if somebody said to me today than i would go back to germany today because there is no life here. >> romania is also home to many

roma. unlike macedonia, romania is a member of the eu, but european partners and especially the german government, insist that controls at the common borders be maintained. they say romania has to do more to prevent poverty migration. many in the use a romania is not living up to standards in all areas of life yet, and that also applies to ways romania has been dealing with its past under communist rule. >> romanian soccer fans once placed their hopes in this man. in the 1980's, he played professionally also in the west, but fans were not the only ones scrutinizing his performance. >> all of our rooms were bugged, and after every match in a foreign country, a secret intelligence service one heard us into a room like animals and try to find out who we have been

talking to. and then my girlfriend applied officially to immigrate, and that is why i was no longer allowed to travel abroad to play. >> this is the man who spied on him. an agent who specialized in athletes. he listened with these devices. today, his equipment is displayed in a museum, but for him, the legend lives on. >> he did not look like this dummy here. a colonel looked like a kernel. i still feel great respect for these officers. >> this is where the transcripts are stored -- 24 kilometers of files. this agent eavesdropped on his fellow citizens for years and did not care what consequences

his reports have for them. this file then -- despite on millions of romanians. here in the center, he shows us what it was like back in 1989 when he demonstrated for the first time against them. >> i saw that the other soldiers intentionally shot to miss, but they purposely shot me. they hit both of my legs. >> romania's popular uprising in december 1989 was the beginning of the end. these pictures remind him of the trauma when his friend was killed. the man's family received neither compensation nor either an apology. >> there is no justice. after 23 years, we still do not know who shot us.

this is all they came up with -- a pathetic monument for those who fought for freedom in romania. >> this agent says he did not shoot, but even after the fall, he to renew -- he continued eavesdropping on politicians, journalists, and artists for the new romanian secret intelligence service. the method was the same -- as the governing party did not like were under surveillance and every detail was noted. >> come home fast. i have a lot to do. i want to take a bath, and i still have to bake a cake. >> but in 1996, yet had enough and went public with his reports. with the targets demanded that the bugging practices be revealed. >> he had spied on his editorial

team and his family. >> my conversations with my 11- year-old daughter were certainly no threat to national security. until today, we have the stalinist law that permits domestic spying in this country. >> that is why he was found guilty of treason for his revelations. but he appealed to the european court of justice, which ruled that exposing in justice took priority over the obligation to maintain silence. it even ruled that he is entitled to 20,000 euros in compensation. >> no, i do not have a guilty conscience. with the editorial team talked about was unimportant. more interesting were the politicians. my work resembled journalism anyway.

>> what the former spy does not mention is that after going public, he took a well-paid job with a right-wing populist party. it, too, had been under surveillance. >> people should see what a nice person a secritat -- securitate officer can be, not just torturing and eavesdropping. >> victims cannot believe how much a former and former is able to capitalize on his past. >> i do not want to have anything to do with people like that. they destroyed not only athletic careers but also many families. >> of romania still has a long way to go to work through its

past. >> iceland is famous for its fjords and huge glaciers. it is also the biggest volcanic island in the world. just how powerful these forces of nature can be became clear three years ago when a volcano under one of the glaciers erupted and send out a giant ash cloud that paralyzed european air traffic for days. a few weeks ago, icelanders were again hit hard by the powers of nature. >> dead fish as far as the eye can see -- a truly massive clean of herring has washed up on the shores of west iceland. kiloliters of coastline shimmer like silver. under water, too, the seabed is layered thick with dead fish.

it is an environmental disaster. an estimated 50,000 tons of herring are dead -- close to ireland's entire annual fishing quota. the local population is trying to haul in and process them while they are still fresh, but what they can collect is only a tiny fraction. >> it is just horrible. we had a wave like this in december. that time, it was about 30,000 tons. it stank to high heaven all through january. now in february, it has happened again. >> it is the largest mass herring debts ever recorded, so what caused it? -- the largest mass herring death. the hearings suffocated for lack of oxygen. -- the herring suffocated for

lack of oxygen. >> here they are swimming along, looking quite healthy, but in reality, they are in big trouble. they are twitching. when there is no wind and very little air is pushed into the sea water, the oxygen content sinks. if the weather stays calm for several days, the herring use up all the oxygen. >> as long as the fish is fresh, if he can be processed into fish meal and sold for 50 euro since a kilo, but once dead, herring rot's quickly. the children from the local school have been given time off to lend a hand. >> it does not look like much fun.

>> as hard as they work, they will hardly be able to make a dent. almost all of it will end up riding where it lies. many farmers are angry over the government's decision to do nothing. >> the question is -- what will happen with the fjord, and what will happen to the salmon trying to swim up the rivers? the problems will not show up until spring. i just hope it will not end in a huge disaster. >> thousands of seabirds are already descending on the area. word of the free lunch seems to have spread quickly. this ornithologist is worried that the oil from the herring will spread more and more on the sea, run aground, and fouled coastline. >> the immediate effect is lots of food for the birds, and that is good, but then, the herring

decays. the water solvent parts get absorbed into the water cycle, but the fact collects on the short and on the ocean's surface -- the fat collects. the fish oil sticks to the bird's feathers. they cannot fly. with their insulation gone, the birds die of cold or starvation because they cannot fly anymore. >> and things can get even worse. the disaster could happen again at any time. the herring use this as their winter refuge. they can say without feeding until spring when they moved into deeper water, and spawn. every few years, the herring move their quarters. no one knows why. >> it is just incredible the way they move around. the queen was in the southeast for four winters and in the southwest for four more -- the

glean. now, of all places, they take this. just imagine, 300,000 tons. that is a quarter of our entire stock. if the weather stays the way it is, cold and still, then we will really have something to worry about. this is the kind of weather or oxygen absorption is at its lowest. >> the authorities have sent a couple of bulldozers to help out local farmers. >> now, they are trying to bury the herring that is running on the shore. they are putting it into pits before it turns to oil. they want to see if they can get up to the cave gradually. >> it is just incredible -- the sheer amount. you just cannot imagine it.

>> all along the shore, the bulldozers are scooping out huge pits, pushing the dead fish into them, and covering them with sand. they hope they will be able to let their sheep and lambs out as usual in the spring and not worry about them getting stuck in fish oil. there are various theories about the cause of the disaster. they could have panicked and fled into the tiny fjord, or the new bridge might have cut off their escape route. scientists are looking for ways to deflect the herring, or millions more could join the ones already dead and decaying, absorbing even more oxygen and starting a vicious cycle. >> that report wraps up this edition of "european journal." thanks very much for joining us here in brussels. until next time, auf wiedersehen and bye for now. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--